On my 4th of July trip to the Outerbanks of North Carolina a few weeks ago we heard about a local brewpub, Outerbanks Brewing Station. As I love beer and tasting beer at its brewery source, I was excited to try the place out. I was even more excited when I found out the place has a big ass wind turbine! For those that don't know it is super windy down on the OuterBanks so it is really a great fit to have a wind turbine there. Of course, homeowners who try to apply to have them installed aren't allowed as at least one local town council considers them an eyesore...
A few facts about their wind turbine: They claim to be the only "wind powered brewery in the country". The max output of the turbine is 10kW at 31mph. That's pretty good! The turbine cost $45,000 and the brewery estimates it saves them $200-$300 per month. As the cost of energy goes up in the future this will only increase. The turbine has a 30+ year operating life. I as I am really tuned into saving energy lately just looking around the brewpub it is obvious there are many other minor things they could do to save lots of energy...
Not only does the brewery have a sweet wind turbine they have pretty decent beer too. We heard from a local that there was a cool 80's night on one of the nights (not for old people, but 80's music.) As I freakin' love (cheesey) 80's music, this was a great chance to rock out while wearing my sunglasses at night and try a couple good beers at the same time.
I tried two beers while at 80's night:
Stout: Only had a couple tastes of my cousin-in-law's beer but from what I remember it was amazing. Everything I like in a stout without any nasty coffee taste (I hate coffee!)
Tripel: Don't remember much about this other than the fact that I don't remember much. Boring and didn't taste like the Tripels I'm used to. This has nothing on one of my favorite Tripels of all time, Victory Golden Monkey Triple.
I went back a few days later with my lovely wife and was able to get a 4 sampler at lunch:
Olsch: This is a Kolsch style beer and claims to be 'The Thirst Quencher!'. It is pale and has a 'Budweiser' color. Not much smell. It is light and pretty refreshing if you're thirsty. Not much flavor. Better than some macrobrew, but not very good. Def. a lawnmower beer.
Hugh Hefeweizen: Named after the Playboy founder? Pretty decent hef. Lemony taste, light and refreshing, decent. Usually not a huge hef. fan but this one is pretty tasty.
LemonGrass Wheat Ale: Another hef. with more oomph than the Hugh version with a nice slightly bitter taste. Def. better than the previously tasted beer with same cloudy and light orange/yellow appearance. Well balanced with more complex mouth feel.
Hop Candy ESB: Very Niice! Nice bitter maltiness. Light amber color, not cloudy. Not 'bitter beer face' bitter but just a bit to smack you in the face and say YES! Best of the four beers I tried that day.
The funny thing about the brewery was that they served the regular cheap American beers too and most people were drinking them! Most people had a Bud Light in their hands! Nothing against Bud Light, but I at least feel that when given a chance to try something local whether its food or drink or music or whatever, you try it. I guess some people just like their Bud Light which is fine. More actual tasty beer for me.
2 comments:
Sounds like fun tasting all those beers. I love that they have a wind turbine. Aren't samplers great? I was at a New Belgian Pub in the Denver Airport yesterday and while they served tons of New Belgian varieties I never had, they didn't have a sampler! I was totally bummed. We had to actually pick and, therefore, only got to try two. As far as the folks picking Bud Lite, I'm afraid you're being kind. They must not really like beer! Hmm or maybe they're just really pro-union. From what I understand Bud's got a strong union so there's that.
What a cool find! Not only is it a local brewery, with a wind turbine, but they had an 80s night! You're almost making me want to go back to the US!
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